The argument among left bloggers, about how to approach the Palin pick, was pretty interesting. In particular over at Talk Left between Jeralyn and BDT. Focus on Palin? Don’t focus on Palin? Kos believes that focusing on Palin was the right tactic and is now taking credit for Palin’s falling approval ratings.

…we focused heavily on Palin, and make no mistake, it’s exactly that intense focus that has taken its toll on her numbers:

…

All of this is happening because we did not relent on Palin, blocking Republican efforts to paint her in a positive light. The results are speaking for themselves.

C’mon. What goes up, must come down. That’s the thing that has brought Palin crashing to earth. Nobody knew who she was when McCain picked her. Voters were able to project whatever they wanted onto her… at first. But now she’s become less than a mere symbol, she’s become flesh and blood and smelly breath and, hey, what’s that growth sticking out of your ear?

Ewwww. Yuck. On second thought.

But the Palin pick did expose a fractured coalition between Obama supporters and the continuing festering resentment among Hillary supporters. There is not complete harmony among democrats.

Today I realized it was September 11, the infamous anniversary of that fateful day seven years ago. I didn’t realize it until I started reading the daily blogs. I actually forgot about September 11, 2001, the significance of that day.

Earlier in the week I saw that ABC had a two-hour program honoring the troops. Nothing wrong with that, but at the same time it seemed kind of odd. Why were they doing it now? It never occurred to me that it was almost September 11, and that was probably the reason why a memorial was going to be televised.

Why did I forget 9/11? How could I forget? I guess because life goes on. We still have the same problems and get obsessed with the same petty bullshit that we let infect our lives. What was I thinking about yesterday? That I had to get to the gym more because I’m overweight. That I really need a car, but I’m totally broke and my credit is bad. That I’m “totally” burned out on the election. And that I shouldn’t have eaten that huge bean and cheese burrito for lunch. How many calories was that anyway, like, a million or something?

These were the things I was thinking about. Not 9/11. Not the people that died that day. Not the people who have died since. Not the war. Not the soldiers. Not their families. I was only thinking about myself and my own bullshit.

The horrific truth is, 9/11 didn’t really change the lives of every American as a lot of analyst and commentators and political pundits said it would. 9/11 changed the lives of those in the planes and buildings and those who died trying to save them, and those who have died in the wars since. A lot of lives to be sure, but not every life. The rest of us wake up in the mornings, just like the mornings before 9/11, and we go to work, or school, and we kiss our loved ones goodbye, and we’ll see them when we get home.

It’s easy to forget and become self obsessed and cynical. BooMan Tribune has a post up that puts 9/11 in perspective and reminds me of what that day actually did change about America and why this election is so important, and why we need to change the direction of this country.

When Bristol Palin’s pregnancy was getting a lot of attention, many bloggers on the left screamed: Stay away, it’ll only backfire! Some even believed the whole pregnancy thing was a Rovian set up. Whatever. I felt it exposed Sarah Palin as a hypocrite of the party of “family values” and exposed McCain as incompetent for picking a hypocrite and liar for a running mate. But what do I know?

In confessing to her drug abuse in orchestrated interviews with friendly journalists in 1994, Cindy McCain said she had kept her problem hidden from her husband and sought treatment at some point in 1992. Questions remain about the validity of those assurances, and Gosinski’s contemporary journal shares a story suggesting John McCain knew of his wife’s problem earlier than anyone has suggested.

First of all: Who gives a shit? Second: Is it just me, or will this simply look like Democrats, again, picking on “John McCain’s Women”. First Palin and now his wife. Don’t pick on the daughter. Don’t pick on the Hockey Mom. But Cindy is fair game? I don’t get it. I don’t blame the woman for abusing drugs… she’s married to John McCain for Christ’s sake.

Do I believe that Obama was making a remark about Sarah Palin with the whole “Lipstick” thing? No. I don’t. BUT. It makes me uncomfortable when dudes like Bill O’Reilly and Chris Matthews come to Obama’s rescue and cry foul when the “sexism card” is being played. I think they’re using the opportunity to lambast the whole idea of “sexism” as opposed to being offended by Obama being called a sexist. Does that make sense?

Both O’Reilly and Matthews have had to defend themselves against charges of sexism. Matthews had to apologize on the air over a remark about Hillary. O’Reilly settled out of court from charges of sexual harassment. The Falafel thing.

So now is the perfect opportunity for these two assholes, not to defend Obama, but to defend themselves, and in their own overblown megalomaniacal minds, mankind itself, against the “Femi-Nazi’s” that are conspiring to emancipate the last of the real men, which Matthews and O’Reilly feel they are the leaders of.

Obama doesn’t need defenders from the likes of Chris Matthews and Bill O’Reilly.

Obama talks about the audacity of Hope. He might want to start thinking about the audacity of Karl Rove. The current attack ad by McCain saying that Obama supports sex education for kindergarten kids is the latest in GOP tactical smear. Neither Obama or the left should be surprised by these smears.

This current attack reminds me of a frightening scene in Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” where “The Judge” tells a group of church goers that the priest preaching to them is a wanted man… wanted for pedophilia, among other heinous crimes.

The religious crowd turns into a mob. The priest’s protests and claims of innocence do him no good, and he’s catered off by the mob to whatever horrible fate awaits him. When a man asks “The Judge” where he knew the priest from, “The Judge” confesses that he’d never seen the man before in his life, and had no idea who he was

How can we fight the likes of “The Judge” and the likes of Karl Rove? It’s difficult, because when “The Judge” points his finger at you and says you are a child molester, the mob will turn on you, even if they know the claim is untrue, less “The Judge” (Rove) decides to point his finger at them next. Better you than them.

Obama has begun to insert the name Rove into some of his statements now in an attempt to expose the lies. But it is not enough. Constantly being on the defensive against “The Judge” and the mob will not do Obama any good. “The Judge” could not be defeated because he was not really a human being. But Rove is, and so is John McCain. They can be defeated, if you hit them first, and fight fire with fire.

John McCain has hired the same man to run his campaign that tried to destroy him and his family in 2000. (and he did). If McCain had any integrity he has completely abandoned it in the pursuit of power.

Obama has to hit back, and hit back hard. When John Kerry was smeared by the Swiftboaters, his reaction was to not hit back. Why? Because the accusation that he lied about his military service was outrageous. No sensible voter would believe such crap. But voters judge a candidate, not only on how he takes a punch, but how he counter attacks. They wonder if he’s capable of throwing a punch himself, even a sucker punch. If there is no attack, then a voter wonders if the candidate has any fight in them.

John McCain and Karl Rove, just like “The Judge” did to the priest in “Blood Meridian” has called Barack Obama a pedophile. As outrageous as the accusation is, it’s Obama that will have to answer for it, just like John Kerry did in ’04, and all because they couldn’t believe their opponent had the audacity to say such blatant lies.

But Democrats should get over the notion now that the truth matters to the GOP. All that matters to the GOP is selling a product long enough to get to mid-October before the truth seeps in, to take advantage of early voting. All Obama can do is point this out, focus on the issues and tell the media what is really going on here, and then rely on his later voters and GOTV to offset what the GOP is doing here